"Depi Evratesil ended Saturday with either Marta or Artsvik as Armenia's Eurovision Song Contest representative.<!--more-->
After more than 180 performances, Armenia's Depi Evratesil came to a close Saturday with Team Essaï's Artsvik winning both the jury and audience vote.
The jury, which counted for 50% of the final decision, favored Artsvik 31-19. Marta, who had won the audience vote decisively in both semi-finals, could not overcome the scoring deficit. The audience favored Artsvik 40-10.
Although we know who will be representing Armenia in Kiev for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, we still don't know what the song will be. Given Artsvik's selections throughout the series, I would expect a power ballad with a hint of R&B. If we can get something along the lines of her reimagining of Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams," Artsvik could make Armenia a frontrunner at next year's competition.
So, did Depi Evratesil work as a format? I would say that it did. Although at times it came across as a discount version of The Voice, I appreciated that the aftermarket for the show was the end goal. Though I didn't agree with everyone who made it to the team round, I found most of the battles intriguing and a good way of narrowing down the field. The semi-finals were a bit of a surprise—I found it odd that it was just a final with six contestants—but we would have had a much different result if that were the case. Even though I was Team Artsvik fairly early on, I would have been just as happy if Marta had won the ticket to Ukraine.
Congratulations Artsvik!"